Is your business time efficient?

Charlie Hartley, Foremost Golf Business Development Consultant –North and Midlands, offers advice on the importance of efficient services systems to a professional’s business.

Running a successful retail business can be challenging and finding the time to achieve the shop’s potential can be tough. In this article, we’ll discuss services that can boost your efficiency and improve your customers’ experience.

Bookkeeping and Managing Orders

Golf retailers face a complex buying process that involves ordering stock from multiple suppliers’ months in advance. Each supplier has different commitment levels and discounts, resulting in multiple delivery drops and dating periods. This can be overwhelming due to the sheer volume of invoices. Foremost Golf has developed a unique Central Invoicing & Payment System for its members that reduces stress, saves time, and offers greater control over finances. Business transactions are hassle-free, thanks to a centralised and consolidated invoicing system. Bookkeeping is significantly reduced to just 24 invoices a year, with only six VAT invoices per quarter. This frees up more time for other important tasks. The Finance Support Team at Foremost Head Office provides excellent service and support to ensure a smooth business operation.

Online Booking Systems
In today’s digital age, it is essential to make your services available for online booking. Growing your customer base can be challenging, but providing an environment that allows customers to book your services quickly and easily, 24/7, is essential. Online booking not only increases the number of new customers but also makes your diary more efficient by reducing the volume of messages from current clients seeking to reschedule appointments. With Foremost Golf’s online booking services, golfers can effortlessly book lessons, fittings, demo day sessions, swing room practice, and even personalized packages.

Marketing – Communication is Key

Regularly updating your customers on your activities can help establish strong relationships. It’s important to remind your audience of the benefits of buying from you and why your proposition suits them. Our EMP Premium solution offers a comprehensive marketing service that includes digital and in-store touchpoints such as weekly newsletters, websites, special mailings, in-store monitors, hotspots, and A-frames with free point-of-sale (POS) materials. This service is designed to guide customers intuitively through every step of the marketing journey. The system also includes sophisticated digital support to maintain strong engagement with members and customers, delivering personalized communications at every stage.

Ticketing – Price, Perception, and Professionalism

As a responsible retailer, it is important to ensure that your POS and price tickets are regularly updated. However, many retailers struggle with complicated and time-consuming templates, which often lead to this task being neglected. I encourage you to take a closer look at your pro shop and identify any outdated signage, irrelevant POS products, or price tickets with incorrect information or poor appearance. Foremost Golf offers a free solution called ForeTickIT to all its members, which allows pros to create professional signs and tickets with ease. You can customise your tickets with your club or business logo and colours and print them quickly. Remember, customers may perceive you to be too expensive if they cannot see a ticket on a product. Since you offer golf products at competitive prices, there is no reason to hide it! GR

For further advice, email Charles.hartley@foremostgolf.com or call 07852 164667.